Trip Reports

Brian Donovan - December 1-6, 1998 - Coronado Springs Resort

Time of Year: Holiday Season
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: CSR
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
Comments: Brian, a veteran WDW visitor, spent a few days at the resort early in December. This is an excellent report, especially if you're planning a trip by yourself, as Brian went solo on this trip. He also ventured off property for some shopping and other activities.


DAY ONE: Tuesday 12/1

The day started out rather early, 5:30 a.m. I got ready and left for the airport for my 7:45 flight on Southwest Airlines. The flight was uneventful and should have lasted a little over 3 hours. However it only lasted 2 1/2 ! So I was in Florida 30 minutes earlier than I planned.

I really think it is a shorter flight than they advertise because I took the same flight last year and it was early, and a person I talked to my return flight said the same thing and they flew out last Friday.

After retrieving my suitcase it was on my way to get my rental car at of all places... Alamo! They had a great deal on a midsize car $96 for a week and I could not pass that up. I had the same class car reserved from Dollar for $136 (using DAILY) when for the heck of it I checked the Alamo site.

From the time I got on the Alamo bus to the time I picked up the Nissan Maxima I ended up with it took about 45 minutes. The only gripe I had was with the greeter, she said I had to leave my suitcase (weekender size) unattended in the seating area. Well I did as I was told being a good little boy.

After I got in line I had noticed several, h*** more than several, who had their luggage with them, one of them was even carrying their golf clubs! I made it out of there with suitcase intact. Will I use Alamo again? Only if they have a car at a significant discount.

Coronado Springs here I come! I was on my way about noon and arrived about 12:30 p.m. I got on line and 15 minutes later I had my room key and 5 day all in one in my hand and was on my way to the room. It was room 8524 in the Cabana section and less than 100 feet from the bus stop.

Once I unpacked, I took a walk around the grounds. I could not believe how well themed they were and the pool was bigger than I thought. I had heard from several people on radp that they liked the Belz Outlets and the Disney stores there, so off I went.

After stopping for lunch at Checkers at the intersection of Sand Lake Road and International Drive, I shopped around the stores but I was not to impressed with the limited selections I saw some nice stuff but there wasn't any in my size.

Since I did not want to waste a day on my park hopper, I decided to go and see "A Bugs Life" at the AMC Theaters. It was an okay movie, but boring in parts. I almost fell asleep a couple of times, however that could be that I only got about four hours of sleeo Monday night. The outakes at the end were great!

As much as I hate saying this I ate at the McD's in the Marketplace. Hey forgive me. I wanted a cheap meal.

DAY TWO: Wednesday 12/2

What started out as a day that I was going to go to Epcot ended up with me going to the Animal Kingdom. Why the change? I had just missed the Epcot bus! The next bus that came buy was the one for Animal kingdom, and it was at this point I decided that is where I would spend the day.

I got to the park about 8:30 or so and had breakfast at Pizzafari. I had the deluxe breakfast pizza which was quite good. The safari was my next stop, it was just about a 5 minute wait. I saw plenty of animals including giraffes, okapi, hippos, and oh yeah, the "audio-animatronic" lion sitting majestically under the tree.

I know it was a real lion but I overheard some lady ask a guide if it was real. I enjoyed the safari and the poacher story line, but I think they could have done a better job with it, such as actually have a plane in view.

It's Tough to be a Bug had a 15 minute wait so I decided to try it out. I enjoyed looking at the carvings in the tree and it's roots and before I knew it I was walking into the theatre. I thought the lighting level could have been higher when you entered the theater though. The 3D effects were not the best, but I attributed that to be being way off to the side. The other effects were great.

The Festival of the Lion King was one of the better shows I have ever seen. The costumes were bright and the singing were fantastic. While waiting in line to enter the theatre a number of guests played a trivia game with the CM we had a grand old time and before I knew it was time to go into the show.

I returned to my hotel for lunch at the Pepper Market. I do not like the idea of the 10% service charge added on. After I was seated the server asked if I wanted a drink and got it for me and also a refill, he also cleared my table when I went to the dessert stand. So in a way I made them work for that added 10%!!

Back to the room to take a short nap was in order. I was to meet up with my CompuServe group for dinner at the Cape May Buffet at 5:30. This would be my first visit here and it will not be my last. I thought the food was superb and the desserts heavenly.

We then went to Epcot for a quick walk through World Showcase and a visit to see Test Track. When we were there, 10 cars came by in 2 minutes. Then we went to the Cool Station where everyone tried Beverly and gagged, except for me, I did not think it was as bad as I have heard. Granted it was bitter and will probably not try it again though.

For IllumiNations we picked a spot just by the Old Troll Bridge, unfortunately it was down wind by the time of the finale came and we were overcome by smoke!

DAY THREE: Thursday 12/3

Since this was my tenth trip to WDW, I am no longer in the commando mode. I got up around 8:00 got dressed and headed out towards the Disney Studios.

I had breakfast at the Hollywood and Vine Character Breakfast while it was expensive the food was good, even the chocolate french toast. The only character to visit my table was Goofy. Chip and Dale were there as well as Pluto. Minnie stood by the door for autographs and photo ops.

I caught the Huncback show and thought it was fantastic! Definately a must see. I really enjoyed the pre-show juggler.

About 1:00 I took the boat to Epcot. The skipper told those of us on the boat that the middle of the Swan and Dolphin hotels had "slide outs" (the parts of the hotels that are all glass) for when the eventually expand the monorail. I don't know how much truth there is in that but it sounds somewhat feasable (sp).

I just walked around the promonade taking in the sites when it suddenly started to rain. It was a pretty good downpour but it lasted only about 10 minutes. When I talked to some of my friends later that night I found out that it did not rain where they were at AK.

I decided to have lunch at Le Cellier. This would be my first time eating here and I will be back! I tried the cheddar cheese soup, and it was as good as I heard it was. There also was a breadbasket with 3 types of bread including a pretzel bread which I thought was the best.

I caught the Universe of Energy show and thought it was okay, I think I may have liked it better before Ellen started to shove her gender choice down our throats.

On my way out of the parks I looked in the Gateway Gift store to see if I could find a Figment beanie, which I did! I also spotted my first ever radp pin! I can't remember who it was exactly but I know her name was Janet and she was on her way to the MVMCP. She was excited that someone finally knew what her button was!

DAY FOUR: Friday 12/4

This was the day I was to take a behind the scenes tour at the Animal Kingdom. The cost with an Amex discount was $48 plus park admission.I took the your with my other online group from Compuserve.

The tour started at 8:30 from the Conservation Station and lasted for about 3 hours. While it was interesting I felt it did not flow too good. What I mean is we started at point A went to point B, from point B we went to point C passing by point A. From point C we went back to point A, then from point A we went to point D. We just kept walking past things we already saw.

Don't get me wrong it was well worth going on and I learned a lot. I learned that the animals are "called" back to their barns at dusk so they can be fed and checked. We also learned there is no direct contact with the animals, meaning there is always a barrier of some kind between the handler and the animal.

The tour guide also explained the procedures of bringing in new animals and how they are indoctronated (sp) into the population. THe tour ended with us filling out a questionnaire on what we learned and how they can make it better.

After the tour we decided to try the Rainforest Cafe for lunch, BIG MISTAKE!! It took almost an hour to get seated which I sort of expected. When we were seated it took about 20 minutes to get our order taken and another 25 before we got our food. To top it off 50% of the groups orders were not prepared correctly! My food while good, it was not as good as the meal I had at Le Cellier. I do not think I will go back.

I went back to my room for a nap, as I was going to the VMCP in the evening. The nap did me good even though it was only about an hour and a half. I went to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner at the Artist Point and as usual the food was excellent. I had the smoked porkchop it had to be 2 inches thick and 5 inches round. However it was the most crowded I have ever seen it so the service was not as quick as usual.

After the dinner we went to the VMCP. I went on Buzz Lightyear and scored a pawltry 50,500. My gun seemed not to operate correctly but it was still fun anyway. From there we went to the PofC where we got on with no wait. At midnight about 40 of us hijacked the Jungle Cruise, we mimicked the captain's spiel (at least the parts that were not changed). We did this twice ina row without getting off, this is where the word hijack came into play.

DAY FIVE: Saturday 12/5

This was my last full day, boo-hoo. As I was out late at the Very Merry Christmas Party last night I decided to sleep in. I awoke about 8:00 am got dressed and headed for Ponderosa for the all you can eat breakfast bar, the quality of the food is pretty good and the value (under $5) is excellent. I visited the buffet twice and was quite stuffed.

I then headed for Downtown Disney to finish up my requisite family souvenir shopping. I spent at least two hours in the World of Disney. I also window shopped in some of the other stores until noon.

At noon I headed over to the House of Blues to meet up with some of my CompuServe friends for lunch. This was the day of our meet much like the rec. arts. group. This was our 8th year doing this! I had the BBQ chicken which was quite tasty and for dessert I had the Banana Bread Pudding, I never had bread pudding before so I did not know what to expect... it was FABULOUS! At the end of the meal the HOB staff handed out game cards to scratch off and I won a hat (value $20) !!

After the luncheon we headed over to the Disney Studios. I do not know how it happened, but someone dragged me on the Tower of Terror. I had always been a little chicken to go on. Needless to say, I survived or I would not be writing this TR!! Next we did the Great Movie Ride and Indiana Jones Stunt show.

I still had not seen Fantasmic! yet and had wanted to catch the first show, but the line at the Movie Ride was about a 35 minute wait. We got off the ride just past 6pm.

Since I had missed the first show we went to the Osborne Lights which were great, and made better with the special "angel glasses" that they were handing out. We then walked to Sunset Blvd where I said my good byes to the group and I headed to the second show. It was about 7:15 when I got on line and it was PACKED! I wasn't seated more than 5 minutes, yes it took that long to get to the arena!. before the lights were lowered and the show started.

At the time I did not know it ws me or not, but I did not really enjoy the show. Part of it was because of the long mess in line and I was still tired from last night. The best parts were the fire on the water and the water screens. Getting out of the show was better.

I then headed over to Pleasure Island where a RADP mini-meet was to take place at the Adventurer's Club. This would be my first time meeting these people. I met Rob(beaniebasher), SnoGirl, Steve Preskitt, Chris (sweetums), Jenn, Zazu and Kenny. although I was on the real quiet side, I enjoyed meeting everyone.

I also spent my first "NY Eve" countdown at PI and really enjoyed myself. After the event was over it was time to search for my car in the parking lot. It took me over 20 minutes to find it (after all I parked it around 10:30am) I got back to my room where I then had to pack up because I was going home in the AM.

DAY Six: Sunday 12/6

Very uneventful! I got up about 9 to finish packing and left the hotel about 9:45. I did some last minute shopping at the Character Connection in the Gooding's Plaza. I was on my way to return the car to Alamo by 10:30.

Got to Alamo about 11:30 (I got a little lost looking for a gas station) and was on my way to check in for my 2:30Pm flight home.

As soon as I got home I started planning for my 1999 trip.

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